It's Complicated
by xDarkEyedWolfx
Summary: Chelsea is doing great with her new life on the island. She's having boy troubles though... Will Vaughn ever open up to her? And how does she really feel about Denny? It's complicated.
1. Chapter 1 : A Fresh Start

**Hey guys, i'm gonna have a go at this fanfic cuz i'm obsessed with the Harvest Moon Island of Happiness game and i have had this idea whizzing around in my head for a while now. . . . So i thought i had better make some use out of it! Well, enjoy! And please review and tell me you thoughts on it. Thanks! **

I let out a sigh as I took my first step onto the boat, preparing to leave the place where I had lived all my life behind. I knew I would miss the city in some ways, but I was also determined that this change was for the best. I wanted a fresh start, a new beginning. . . . My mind wandered to my future home as I walked slowly around the boat. I had to admit, I was slightly anxious, not knowing what was in store for me. I took a deep breath and let the cool, sea breeze wash over me as i walked out on deck, beginning to feel more relaxed. I breathed in the briny smell of the deep blue ocean which was layed out in front of me, calm and serene. I felt my mouth turn up in a smile. I was suddenly feeling really optimistic about my future, and it was such a lovely day! Nothing could ruin my mood.

After a while of just leaning on the rails on the side of the boat and staring out into the ocean, I decided to go down to my cabin and get some rest. I had spent more time outside on deck then i had thought and i suddenly realised that it was quite late. The ship wasn't that big, not much to see and it was fairly easy to manouever my way through the corridors to my room. On the way I noticed a family of four supposingly on their way to their own room. I presumed they were a family anyway, the similar pink hair said it all. The pink haired girl was snapping angrily at her brother who had gone red in the face and wasn't even trying to depend himself against her ruthless insults.

'Elliot, you stupid klutz! How did it just 'slip' off the side of the boat and into the frickin' ocean? ! HUH? ? YOU-'

'WILL YOU TWO JUST BE QUIET FOR A SECOND! ' A small, angry looking bald man roared at them, causing them both to jump and the girl to scowl. I have to say I jumped myself, even though i wasn't stuck in the middle of their little argument. You could almost see the dude steaming!

I quickly dodged past the group, hoping that they weren't going to the same destination as I was. I wouldn't like to be part of any of the old guys arguments. I could still hear his shouting halfway down the corridor.

Feeling suddenly exhausted, I flopped down on my bed as soon as I reached my room, not even caring to take in my surroundings. I quickly sunk into a blissful sleep, dreaming of my new home, the dream only sometimes penetrated by brief nightmares of the small bald man shouting at me.

I sat bolt upright in bed. What was that creaking sound? I let out a small squeal as I heard a loud crash almost immediately followed by several others. The boat rocked and swayed dangerously and I had to grab onto the edge of my dresser to keep myself from falling over as I stood up. What was happening? Could the ship be sinking? My breathing was coming fast now as I tried my best not to panic. I staggered across the room and fumbled for the light switch but even when I found it, it wouldn't turn on. _ Come on! _ I growled at it aggressively but it was no good. The power was out.

As soon as I opened the door I was thrust into chaos. I could hear people shouting and i didn't know where i was going. 'HEY! ' I yelled as someone I couldn't see crashed into me and almost knocked me over. As if i didn't already have enough trouble staying upright at the moment!

The captain's voice suddenly crackled over an intercom somewhere above my head.

'Everyone stay calm, just-' It crackled and went out.

I gulped and shoved my way blindly past people, until I found myself out on deck. I couldn't see anything but a strong gale whipped my hair around my face and sea spray splashed and soaked me.

I stumbled across the deck and screamed when the boat suddenly lurched to the side. I slipped and skidded across the wet floor, crashing into something hard, the breath knocked out of me.


	2. Chapter 2 : Challenges

**Ok, first chapter was just a short introduction, this one is longer! Please keep reviewing, guys! **

The first thing I heard were voices. At first I nearly panicked because I thought I was going crazy but then I realised I recognised those voices. . . I scrunched up my nose and squeezed my eyes shut even more in frustration as I struggled to place the voices.

'What is she doing with her nose? Her face is looking all weird. ' Was the first sentence I heard that I could make sense of. What? ! Someone was insulting my face? It was a man's voice, gruff and. . . . . The old angry guy on the boat! I quickly opened my eyes and found two pairs of eyes staring back at me.

'Ah, you're awake. About time too. ' The man said with an impatient look on his face.

I realised I was lying down on an unfamiliar sandy beach and I sat up quickly, my vision blurring slightly as the blood rushed to my head. I shook it to clear it, trying to get back on track and make sense of things. Well, first things first. . . .

'What were you saying about my face? ' I cried indignantly. The old guy carried on as if I hadn't spoken.

'My name is Taro and this is my daughter, Felicia, ' he said, gesturing to the lady beside him who knelt down next to me. 'Are you all right, dear? ' she asked. I nodded. She seemd very motherly and I instantly felt comforted by her. I gave her a grateful smile.

'I'm Chelsea, ' I said with a small smile.

I stood up and Taro motioned for Felicia and I to follow him as he began to walk across the beach. I jogged to catch up with him and walked beside him, ready to get answers.

'So what happened, exactly? ' I asked. 'I think I must have blacked out for most of it. '

'Yes, you did. The ship was struck by lightening and sunk. My family and I went up on deck and found you there, unconsious. We dragged you into a lifeboat and set off but the sea was so stormy that the boat was wrecked on some rocks, though we were thankfully close to shore by then so we washed up here. ' Taro paused. 'We don't know what happened to anyone else but they didn't come our way, anyway. '

Before I could even comment on our situation, I could see that we were in for another of Taro's temper tantrums.

'Where's Elliot and Natalie? ' He growled. 'They said they'd be right back, ' his voice was ominously getting louder with every word. Felicia shot me an apologetic look and I grimaced back at her.

'It's ok, dad-' She attempted to calm her father down, but thankfully just at that moment, the two pink haired children made their way onto the beach, bickering.

'Where were you? ! ' Taro roared.

'Geez, calm down, we just went for a walk. Explored a bit that's all. ' The girl said indignantly, folding her arms across her chest.

'Explored. . . . . EXPLORED? ? ' Taro was working himself up into a tantrum.

'Dad, leave it! ' Felicia said, kindly but firmly. 'They're ok now, and that's all that matters. ' I was really beginning to like Felicia.

'Fine, ' Taro mumbled. 'Chelsea, this is my grandson Elliot and my granddaughter, Natalie. '

I smiled at them both. Natalie gave a small smile back and didn't say anything but I had a feeling we were going to get along well.

'Hey, it's really great to meet you! ' Elliot said, smiling broadly. He was so friendly, and I was really beginning to like this whole family.

Taro cleared his throat and put on this authoritive voice. 'So this means that we're the only people on this island. '

There was a moment of gloomy silence as his sentence hung in the air.

'Well come on, it could be worse! ' Taro suddenly shouted, making me jump. 'At least we're all alive and well! We boarded that ship looking for a new start, right? Well now we've got one! A whole island to ourselves! Look on the bright side, chums! '

I felt my lips form a smile. Taro was right, this was a great opportunity for a new start. We had to look at the positives. Hey, maybe the guy wasn't so bad after all.

We left the beach and started wandering around the island. I spoke to Felicia, Natalie and Elliot as we walked, talking about our lives before this, where we had come from. . . . I was actually enjoying myself. Felicia stopped outside a rundown old cottage. She smiled.

'I think we could live here. '

Natalie looked doubtful. 'I dunno. . . . It doesn't look too stable. The roof looks like it could cave in at any minute! '

Elliot was already inside the house, looking around. 'There's some old furniture in here and everything. All in good condition, too. ' He smiled.

'With a bit of work, it could be a great place to live! ' Felicia smiled, happy with her new challenge.

I began to feel slightly left out. This place was clearly only for their family. . . Where would I live?

'Hey, Chelsea, come here, I wanna show you something! ' Taro called, suddenly returning from wherever he had been previously.

I followed him up to a big open field, dotted with little cottages and stables. There was so much space. . . .

'This was an old farm, ' Taro informed me. 'How would you like to be the new farmer, Chelsea? ' Taro grinned at me. I couldn't believe it. This would be like, my dream! I grinned widely.

'Of course, Taro! ' I yelled, startling the man for a second. 'I'd love to! '

Taro smiled, pleased. 'I used to farm in my younger days. I could teach you anything you need to know about farming. ' He said proudly.

'Wow, ' I breathed, taking in the scene before me. 'Thanks, Taro! '

'No problem, kiddo, ' he said gruffly. 'You can live here. ' He gestured to another rundown cottage, although I was pleased to say that it was in better condition than the one the others would be living in. I wasn't exactly a person who liked renovating.

'So, i'll leave you to it then, ' Taro said. 'There's a lot of work to be done before you can even think about growing any crops but you'll manage. Just ask me if you ever need help with anything and i'll show you the ropes. '

For some reason a strange giddiness built up inside me and I ran forward and gave Taro a hug. 'Thank you! ' I squealed, startling him and then I bounded away to work on my farm. . . MY farm! I was filled with a sudden spurt of energy as I raced around the vast expanse of field , smiling my face off.

That smile was soon wiped right off my face, I can tell you. I spent literally hours pulling the weeds from the field and making sure the ground was ok for planting crops. It was quite late in the evening and my hands and back were aching like crazy. I groaned and stretched. Damn, my muscles were totally going to hurt like hell in the morning.

I decided to go and pay my new neighbours a visit, kill some time before I turned in for the night. I walked happily down the road with a sping in my step. I was already feeling right at home here on the island. I entered the house without knocking since I was pretty friendly with the family already and they were hardly going to suspect that some burglar had walked into their house since we were the only ones on the island.

'Hey, Chelsea, ' Natalie smiled at me from what I supposed was once a kitchen. It was on the way to looking like one again though, Felicia had been working hard.

'Hey, Natalie, ' I grinned and greeted the others. Elliot began talking to me straight away, asking how the farm was going and offering his help which I politely refused. I wanted to do this farm thing by myself, except for the occasional pointers from Taro. I could almost swear that out of the corner of my eye, I saw Taro looking at me proudly. I guess he was glad that I was taking this seriously, that I really wanted to do this.

'Now that's what a true farmer is, ' Taro grinned, sitting down opposite me at the old wooden table. 'You have definately got the potential to be a great rancher. I can see it in your eyes. '

He immediately engaged me in talk about farming and we talked till I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open. I walked home feeling happy and loved, I felt like Taro, Felicia and the others were my family. I collapsed into bed, absolutely exhausted from the days events and fell asleep almost straight away.

When I awoke the next morning, my muscles were aching like I had predicted. I groaned as I stretched and stood up, getting ready for the day.

I stepped out side into the bright, fresh morning air and sighed, content.

That's when I heard it.

'Hey, Chelsea! ' A little, squeaky voice came from somewhere I couldn't see. I looked around, trying to pinpoint the source of the voice but seeing no one. I gasped. I was going mad! I heard a high pitched giggle. 'Down here, silly! '

And when I looked down and saw the tiny man at my feet, I _knew_ I was going mad.

I let out the tiniest shriek and I fainted.


	3. Chapter 3 : Mysterious Cowboy

'Chelsea, what's wrong? Hang on there. . . . . '

I opened my eyes to find myself staring into the eyes of the tiny man again, only this time I was lying on the ground and he was standing on my nose, looking down. He grinned and introduced himself as the Harvest sprite, Noe. I was shocked. I opened and closed my mouth like a goldfish but no sound came out. Noe laughed.

'Just come to me if you need any help, Chelsea. I live over there. ' He gestured to a little pink house.

'Ok. . . ' I managed to stammer. Noe giggled again.

'See you around, Farm Girl, ' and he materealised into thin air. . .

As I walked down to Taro's house, I could almost swear I heard giggling following me.

As soon as I entered the house, Taro started yelling.

'About time too! What, you think you could sleep as long as you liked? This isn't a holiday, Chelsea! ' Quickly checking my watch, I saw it was 7 am. Geez. . . . 'Come on! We've got visitors down at the beach. The others have already gone on ahead. '

I found a small group of people huddled together on the beach when i went down.

'Hey, i'm Chelsea, ' I greeted them with a smile.

'Hey, Chelsea, ' A blond girl about my age piped up. She smiled warmly. 'I'm Julia. My mom and I are moving to the island to help with the buying and selling of animals. '

A plump woman beside her nodded. 'That's right dear. My name is Mirabelle. '

The others turned out to be a merchant, Chen, and his son, Charlie, who had come to set up a shop for all of us on the island. Chen promised me that he would sell me seeds for my farm at a good price. I felt really happy and complete looking around at my new neighbours.

While the other's found their new homes, Taro began to show me how to sew seeds and all other kinds of things useful to know on a farm. We planted two packets of turnip seeds, given to me by Chen, free of charge, and then I went down to buy more. I spent the rest of the evening tending to my crops. I decided i needed a break.

It was starting to get dark when I walked down to Julia's new house. I stepped back to look at it admiringly before I knocked on the door. They had really done a great job cleaning it up. Miabelle opened the door.

'Oh, hello, Chelsea, dear, ' she greeted me with a smile. 'Come in, come in. '

I stepped inside and after a few minutes of chatting with Mirabelle, went to find Julia. She was in the kitchen, sitting at the table and studying some papers. She looked up when approached.

'Hey, what's up, Julia? ' I said and flopped down into the seat next to her, too tired to remain standing.

'Hey, chels, just looking over some papers to do with animal dealing. . . ' she rolled her eyes. 'Workaholic? '

'Totally, ' I laughed.

She grinned. 'Hey, there's a guy coming to the island tomorrow, he's an animal dealer. So you'll probably be able to get some animals for your farm in no time! '

'Gotta get the mony first, ' I grumbled. Money was already starting to be a problem for me. Julia and i chatted for ages, but I eventually had to go home, I was so tired. It would be great to get some animals. Maybe starting off with a chicken, as Tao suggested, would be best. Not too much work, but it would give me the extra money. I fell asleep quickly, dreaming about chickens. . . .

I awoke the next morning to a knock on my door. I lept out of bed with a quick, 'come in! ' expecting Taro or someone. Instead, who should open my door but a gorgeous cowboy.

He shifted from foot to foot, looking awkward for a second. I guess it might have been because i was still in my pijamas and my hair was a total mess.

'My name's Vaughn. ' The guy said, bringing his hat down to cover his eyes. 'I'm the aniam dealer round here. Just thought i'd come to say hi. '

I nodded. 'ok, ' I said nervously, not sure what else to say. Vaughn nodded and left, the door slamming shut behind him. He seemd like a guy who liked to keep to himself. Too bad for him, cause I was definatley going to try and get to know him. I felt like he needed a friend. Everyone needs a friend. And he seemed so. . . different. He wasn't at all that friendly, from what i'd seen of him anyway. He was extremely good looking, especially in those cowboy clothes and his hair was a strange silvery colour, though he only looked a year or two older than me. First thing I was going to do that morning was go straight down to see Julia and enquire about the new guy. Before I could even leave the house however, my thoughts were interrupted by another knock at the door.

I sighed, 'Come in! ' I called again. At least i was fully dressed this time. A huge, burly looking man opened the door. 'Um. . . hi! ' i squeaked, feeling intimidated by his massive form and huge muscles.

'The name's Gannon. ' He introduced himself. 'I'm a carpenter, just moved to the island. Need any work done on your house or whatever. . . . ' He trailed off for a moment, looking at my rundown house. 'You just let me know. I'll be down near chen's shop. ' With that, he turned and left. Well, at least I didn't have to do the house renovation alone. I went out to water my crops, willing them to grow so i could ship them for money. I was thankful to Taro for doing the shipping business himself, I would hate to have to categorise everything in the shipping bins myself.

On the way down to the animal store, I stopped in to say hi to Natalie and check the weather forcast for tomorrow. It's amazing how Taro always knows the weather! He baffled me the first time he said, 'My eyebrow are telling me it'll rain tomorrow. '

After leaving content with the knowledge that it would be sunny tomorrow according to Taro's old knee, I continued on to see Julia. I realised that i was going to need Gannon to build a chicken coop for me before I could buy a chicken. I walked into the store and was immediately greeted by Mirabelle. I smiled at her and went to see Julia, who was in her bedroom this time. She looked up and smiled when she saw me.

'How are you, Chelsea? ' she asked.

'Great, ' I told her, sitting down on the bed beside her. 'You hear about the new carpenter. . ? ' We started a long discussion which i broke with, 'And what about that animal dealer guy? '

'Oh yeah, Vaughn! ' Julia squealed. 'He's hot isn't he? '

I laughed. 'I suppose. . . ' I agreed.

'Hey, he could be good potential boyfriend material for you, Chels! ' Julia interrupted.

'Hey! You're the one who started off about how hot he is! '

'Yeah, but i've already got a crush. . . . . ' Julia trailed off, going red. I grinned.

'Yeah just lemme guess. Could it be. . . . . Elliot, perhaps? '

'Chelsea, shut up! ' Julia squealed. 'Ok, maybe I like him a little bit. . . . '

I laughed. 'Jules, you are head over heels in love with him. ' I assured her. 'But about Vaughn, I know he's extremely good looking but I don't lik him that way. . . ' Julia looked at me disbelievingly as i continued. 'But I wouldn't mind getting to know him. I mean, he looks like he could use a friend. '

'You've got that right! ' Julia snickered. 'He seems to like to keep to himself. He doesn't talk much. . . . I tried talking to him today but he's not very conversational. Kinov rude. ' She frowned. 'I'm not going to waste my time on him anyway. '

'Yeah. . . . ' I sighed absent mindedly and said my goodbyes to Julia. I had to talk to Taro about more ways of making money, I needed animals and my roof was leaking. I had practically woken up in a pond yesterday.

On my way out, I crashed into something and stumbled backwards, just anaging to keep my balance.

'Watch where your going! ' Vaughn hissed at me. I was taken aback by his hostility. I resisted the urge to shout at him, I wasn't going to stoop to his level.

'Oh, sorry, ' I said, letting just a tiny bit of sarcasm flow into my voice. 'I'll be more careful next time. '

'You better, ' He growled and i found myself lost in his unusual amythyst eyes for a moment. 'What are you looking at? ' He snapped.

'You don't have to be so rude, you know! ' I said and stormed out.

He was so rude! Julia was right, I shouldn't waste my time on him. I wondered why he didn't even attempt to be friendly. He was a total mystery to me.


End file.
